Real plan triple swoop as the Juventus bargain hunt begins

Wednesday 19 July 2006 18.47 EDT
First published on Wednesday 19 July 2006 18.47 EDT

The long-expected Juventus fire sale is likely to begin today when the Italian club meet Real Madrid's new sporting director Predrag Mijatovic in Turin to discuss the transfer of Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson and Gianluca Zambrotta to the Spanish side.

Real Madrid, now being rebuilt by the former Juve coach Fabio Capello, have offered around £22.6m for the three players with Juventus asking for £27.5m. Cannavaro, 32, will almost certainly join Real Madrid after giving his word to his former coach Capello, and Emerson, 30, is also eager to follow his mentor after playing a crucial role during Capello's spells at Roma and Juventus.

The Spaniards, however, are likely to face severe competition from Chelsea and Milan for the signing of the 29-year-old Zambrotta. The Italy full-back, who impressed in the World Cup in Germany, has said his preference would be to stay in Italy with Milan, according to his agent.

"Zambrotta's wish is to stay in Italy but not at Juventus, and the only club that can afford the transfer and that have shown a keen interest is Milan," Giuseppe Bonetto said. "Should Juventus fail to reach an agreement with Milan then Zambrotta will consider the other alternatives."

Chelsea have confirmed their interest in the Italian international, who can cover both full-back positions and can also play as winger. "An agent representing Chelsea will meet Juventus in the next few days," Bonetto continued. "It will be down to Juventus to make the decisions and let us know what the options are, once there is something concrete."

Juventus in the meantime have reportedly changed their minds about the possible transfer of the Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to Milan after the Rossoneri agreed to sell their goalkeeper Christian Abbiati to Torino. Abbiati had a good spell while on loan at Juventus as a cover for the then-injured Buffon last season and the Bianconeri had wanted to include him in the deal for the World Cup winner.

Juventus are ready to consider offers from abroad for Buffon, who is widely considered the best goalkeeper in the world. Arsenal and Manchester United are reportedly interested in signing the 28-year-old. "We have held a lot of things back until we knew what the Juventus situation was," the Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said earlier. "Now we know where we're going, in terms of making definite inquiries and maybe definite offers for one or two players."

Another player set to leave Juventus is the 34-year-old French international defender Lilian Thuram, who has confirmed he will not play in Serie B next season. "I haven't spoken too much with the club about my future, but I hope there is enough time to find a new team," he said. "There is only a very small chance that I will play for Juventus in Serie B. Barcelona would be a nice destination for me. It would be great to play together with Ronaldinho and [Samuel] Eto'o."

His compatriot Patrick Vieira, linked with Manchester United, is negotiating with Internazionale. The Milanese club are ready to offer the former Arsenal captain a four-year contract worth £3m a year.

While Juventus are ready to let their best players leave, Milan are eager to keep their stars after avoiding demotion to Serie B in the trial for sporting fraud. The club insist that nobody will leave, even though the Rossoneri will not play in the next Champions League campaign and will start the Serie A season with a 15-point deduction.

Milan denied a story in the Spanish press that Kaka was hoping to join Real Madrid. "Kaka is currently on holiday but we called him and he denied having talked with any journalist about his future," said a statement on Milan's official website. The Italian media had also reported interest from Chelsea in the attacking midfielder. The Italy midfielder Gennaro Gattuso is also expected to stay at Milan despite Manchester United's interest. "He is happy at Milan and he is not thinking of leaving," said his agent Andrea D'Amico.

Tottenham have inquired about signing the right-back Massimo Oddo from Lazio, who have been relegated from Serie A for their part in the match-fixing scandal. The 30-year-old, renowned for his strong attacking qualities, was part of Italy's World Cup-winning squad and Spurs are keen to bring in a right-back to be first choice ahead of Paul Stalteri.

Meanwhile, the four clubs found guilty in the match-fixing scandal - Juventus, Fiorentina, Lazio and Milan - will begin their appeals next Saturday, the president of the appeals court has said.

That process is unlikely to finish by next Tuesday, the July 25 deadline set by Uefa for Italy to submit the list of teams to compete in next season's European competitions. In that case, Italy's list of entrants would be based on the tribunal verdict, meaning Juventus, Milan and Fiorentina would lose their places in the Champions League, making way for Roma, Chievo Verona and Palermo.